Dark Science
by CrobatFang
Summary: Naruto was mentored by Orochimaru. Consequentially, he has become smarter, stronger, more in-tune with Kurama, and much darker at just the age of ten. The story will cover the academy arc to Pain's assault (Madara actually died, and thus there's no Kaguya either), with some major differences in between. NaruTayu. Current arc: Academy Arc.
1. Prologue: The Moon

AN: Welcome! This is going to be a long, planned out fic, featuring mostly action and politics, but with some romance and drama sprinkled in between. Written here is a prologue to it. As for lemons and yaoi - no. Just no. They won't be anywhere in this story.

With that said, you may begin.

* * *

A four year old Naruto looked out the window at the full moon, the greatest light in the night sky. Naruto was lying in his bed, sleeping atop a rigid mattress and a rough blanket, and without a pillow. Other kids in the orphanage had better beds, but Naruto had to get the worst of everything. He wasn't sure why.

Naruto was fed up of everyone else's behavior towards him. With those feelings in mind, he looked around at the other beds in the room, noting the soft, yet consistent, rises and falls of the boys' stomachs. A determined glint in his eyes, Naruto opened the window. He winced as it creaked slightly.

None of the snores faltered.

Naruto stepped out of the window, landing onto the moist grassy field. He looked back up at the moon.

Sometimes, Naruto wondered what the other stars thought of the moon. That one bright light in the night sky, which no other star could dream of comparing itself to. However, even though the moon was clearly superior, it was the only moon. The only bright light.

Even though the moon was superior, it was alone. Was being like that truly preferable?

As Naruto thought of this, he heard steps from behind him. Turning around, expecting a boy to yell, 'I'm telling', Naruto was surprised to see the silhouette of a man. Under the moonlight, Naruto was barely able to make out a sly grin.

"The moon is beautiful tonight, wouldn't you agree?" The man said. His voice was slippery and leathery... almost _inhumane_.

Naruto wasn't sure how to respond. So he didn't. Instead, he took a step closer to the man, making out a pale complexion and strange purple lines near his eyes.

"I see, not the talkative type. We'll be changing that," the man said. "Naruto, there are many things I would like to teach you. Would you come with me?"

Naruto was confused. Why did this man want to take him away? What did he want to teach him? Instead of vocalizing these questions, Naruto asked, "who are you?"

The man's grin grew wider, revealing sharp, triangular teeth. That wasn't normal. "My name is Orochimaru. I'm a... scientist."

A few seconds of silence passed. "But I don't want to leave. I have the old man, for one..." Naruto said.

Orochimaru's grin faded. "But most people hate you here, don't they? If you come with me, everyone you see will treat you with greater respect than you've ever dreamed of."

Naruto hesitated. "Why me?"

"You are special, Naruto. The others hate you because you have a special power they don't. Come with me, and you can learn more about it."

Naruto found himself seriously considering the proposal. Why stay? The old man had always wanted Naruto to be happy, anyway. And Naruto believed he could be happy with this Orochimaru. However, there was something Naruto wanted to know first. "What will I be doing with you?"

Orochimaru's grin returned. "You will be learning the power of science, especially dark science. You will learn to be better than these filthy denizens of the Leaf Village."

"Dark science?"

"I'll explain once we reach my base. Are you willing to come?"

Naruto took a deep breath and turned to look back at the moon. Its light bathed him from head to toe, and for some reason, it seemed a little more familiar. "I am."

* * *

AN: Normal chapters will usually last 2000 to 3000 words. This is shorter as this is a prologue.

There is a CrobatFang fanfiction group on discord. If you are interested, information is on my profile.


	2. Opening Arc: Present

AN: Thanks for all of the attention for the prologue! I hope all of you enjoy this chapter even more!

* * *

It was August, two months before Naruto's tenth birthday.

Naruto smirked. He was standing inside a stone room in one of Orochimaru's hideouts, and for the first time, he had managed to create a Rasengan.

Naruto turned to Orochimaru, who was studying a genetically modified beetle inside a glass cage. "Master. I have completed the assignment. What is the next job?"

Orochimaru's eyes widened, and Naruto's smirk grew. He was rarely able to surprise his master.

"That took you only ten hours..." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "Did you really work all ten hours in a row?"

Naruto nodded. "It wasn't that hard. I took a five minute break every 25 minutes of work. It's a productivity technique I created, remember that?"

"Ah yes. It would be inventions like those that make me happy to have made you my apprentice. So yes, your assignment. It will be the last one before I will give you your... present..." Orochimaru said.

Naruto nodded slightly. His present would be personal teaching from Orochimaru on how to control the beast inside of him.

"So what is the next assignment?"

"I want you to kill ten prisoners in the dungeons. Follow me." Orochimaru walked out of the room, and Naruto followed, a frown on his face.

They walked down the stairs to find the dungeon, a dank room full of bones and moans. They walked to the end of the jail-cell-lined hallway, where ten men were chained to the wall with dirty metal chains. The men were unshaven and dripping with sweat.

Naruto's lips curled in disgust. "What did they do?"

Orochimaru shrugged. "They wandered too near the base. So I grabbed them."

Naruto sighed. That was the one aspect he hated about his master. Orochimaru was evil. And for no reason. Naruto had read books Orochimaru hadn't read, about rationality, logic, and morals. Naruto knew he was far from being a saint, after having experimented on the bodies of criminals as a toddler, but he despised needless cruelty. Orochimaru also harbored intense dislike for the Village Hidden in the Leaves, which Naruto didn't agree with. After having grown up mentally, Naruto had understood that the fear others projected towards him had been justified, and that according to proper rationality, he could change their minds about him by showing that he was just a human being.

"May I have my present now? I do not wish to kill people who have done no wrong."

Orochimaru frowned. "You are too soft, Naruto."

"I am harder than diamond, master. I work for the greater good, which is why I devote myself fully to dark science. Killing these people is not useful to anyone."

Orochimaru was silent for a moment. Then he said, "I see. Kick each of them in their solar plexuses, Naruto. And make it hard. After that, I will erase their memories and set them free. They are too weak to be used for any experiments anyway."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks, master. Inducing temporary pain is far from problematic." Naruto walked forward to the men and kicked them each in the pits of their stomachs, putting full force behind each blow. The men emitted little gasps, but apparently they had been tortured enough that the new pain wasn't that surprising for them.

Naruto finished with the last man and turned to Orochimaru. "I would like to receive my present now."

Orochimaru laughed evilly. That was something Naruto had tried to copy many times, but his laugh always sounded like a stupid, ignorant boy's laugh. Orochimaru loved to make fun of that, saying that if he hadn't picked him up, Naruto would've grown up to be a stupid ignorant boy.

"Impatient as ever, Naruto. Don't worry, we can open your present. Your training will commence right now."

Naruto grinned, then covered his mouth. Grins were for low-lifes, after all.

* * *

One hour later, after some intense practice, Naruto had finally been able to go into the mindscape where the nine tailed beast lived. It was a sewer-like area (although the air was fresh), with a large jail cell built into one of the walls. The floor had inch high water, which splished and splashed as Naruto walked closer to the bars that closed off the nine tails.

"Hey! Wake up!" Naruto yelled, glaring into the darkness. A few seconds later, a deep growl was emitted from behind the metal bars, and out came the nine tailed fox. The beast was gripping the bars with his two fore-paws, and his eyes were trained on Naruto.

In a deep voice, the fox said, "Ah, the little stupid bo-"

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted, interrupting the fox. Naruto wished to appear intimidating, but throughout his time with Orochimaru he had just been considered a little boy by everyone. He doubted that would change with a large tailed beast, but he still wanted to try. "You, fox, will be my one and only friend! Got that!"

The nine tailed fox narrowed his eyes even further, and let out a low growl. "You little brat... more assertive that I thought, I will admit. But what makes you think you are superior to me?!"

Naruto smirked. "I do not believe myself superior. I believe you have more strength, but I have more freedom. Considering that, we can work together to be the most powerful in the world. We can make everyone our underlings, studying dark science to the fullest."

The nine tailed fox lowered his fore-paws to the ground, creating a large splash of water that sprayed over Naruto's face. "You have big dreams. But what is dark science, brat? Combining potions in a closet?"

"Science without restraint. For instance, immortality. Studying things that can sometimes be considered immoral, but only by idiots. In the end, a few deaths and a bit of pain is nothing in exchange for researching something that could potentially benefit all of humanity. At least, that's what _I_ consider dark science."

The nine tailed fox smiled. It didn't seem warm or welcoming in the slightest; it appeared to be how a predator smiled when locating prey. "I see. And how would I gain from helping you?"

Naruto chuckled. "You'll be stuck inside me until the end of time. After all, once I reach my prime, I'll start switching bodies again and again for immortality. So... what else do you have to do?"

The nine tailed fox let out a roar, which caused Naruto's ears to ring, but the boy didn't let it show. "My name is Kurama," the fox said. "And I'll help you for now. If you try belittling me, however, I will make my best effort to escape from your body."

Naruto cracked his knuckles. "Do remember I said you will be my friend. And I don't see any reason to belittle you. I value your strength, even though it was because of you my first years in the Leaf Village were so... crappy."

Kurama nodded, seemingly satisfied. "I will open a channel between our minds. I've normally been able to see and hear whatever you see and hear, so that can stay. The channel will allow us to mentally speak to one another without you having to come here."

Naruto nodded. He knew that tailed beasts were considered manifestations of hatred; however, he had done some research and there were rumors that they hated humans only because they were treated like possessions. By telling Kurama he would be his 'only friend', Naruto had manipulated the tailed beast's mind into agreeing to Naruto's proposal. "Kurama, shall I take my leave then?"

Kurama shook his large head. "No, I must first consult you face to face on Orochimaru. I should hope you already know, but I will tell you just in case. Orochimaru seeks to use you in the end. He isn't very noble."

Naruto nodded again, satisfied that Kurama couldn't read his mind. After all, Naruto had known right from the start that Orochimaru planned to use him. "Kurama, I planned to use Orochimaru. I owe him a lot; he's helped me with so much. All of those dumb, silly thoughts in the past about getting acknowledgement via vandalism... heh, my mind is now mature and tactical. Of course, I do plan to kill him."

Kurama's eyes widened, a comical look upon his normally intimidating visage. "You are better than I thought, boy. My last few Jinchuriki have been soft and annoying. You are already my favorite."

Naruto felt his heart warm, although he wasn't sure why. Shaking his head to get rid of the thought, he said, "Thanks. I'll need your help, though. When I leave, I'll ask Orochimaru to undo this seal that contains you - not completely, don't grin like that - but it will allow me to gain control over your chakra. I won't be good at controlling it, but I'll try to sap away all of Orochimaru's chakra in that state. I know it's possible."

Kurama nodded. "I see. I will transfer my chakra to you when you tell me to. I hope that f*&%ing scumbag dies, he always just considered me a chakra depot..."

Naruto smiled. "I'll leave then." Naruto mentally signaled his mind (funny how that worked) to send his conscience outwards to his full body. Naruto blinked, and found himself sitting back in one of the underground stone hideouts.

Orochimaru was standing in front of Naruto, a demented look upon his face. Well, nothing new there.

' _Can you hear me, brat?'_ A deep voice emanated from Naruto's mind.

Naruto nodded, then realized that would look pretty weird to Orochimaru. _'Uh... yes? You can hear this?_ ' Naruto said those words loudly in his mind. He had to refrain from mouthing the words in the physical realm.

' _Good, this works nicely. I'm watching through your senses, go ahead and get started.'_

Naruto nodded again, then blushed for making the same mistake twice.

Orochimaru grinned. "You seem to be mentally damaged," he whispered in his slithery voice.

"I wouldn't agree with that, actually. Anyways, can you unlock the seal? Our discussion went well."

Orochimaru frowned and walked away. Naruto knew Orochimaru was unhappy, since he loved to know _everything_ Naruto did, and inside his mindscape, Orochimaru couldn't know what was happening.

Naruto sat down on a stone seat next to a round stone table and created two Rasengan, one for each hand. He looked at them both proudly, then drove them into the stone table. He heard a loud crashing sound as the table caved in. Property damage didn't matter; Earth Style could just easily bring back the table, anyways.

"Naruto, you havin' anger issues?" A playful voice said.

Naruto turned to the left to see Suigetsu leaning on a stone wall, smiling slightly with his shark teeth. Suigetsu was on good terms with Naruto, but Suigetsu hated Orochimaru. After all, Orochimaru had captured Suigetsu to use him for experimentation just a few months ago; Suigetsu had been only eleven years old at the time.

As if Naruto would ignore the obvious. "Suigetsu, I would like it if you stay in this room for the next hour, or until I leave first."

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow. "And why?"

"Because that would be what I would want, yes?"

Suigetsu sighed and sat down one on the stone seats at another one of the stone tables. "You better tell me why afterwards," Suigetsu drawled.

Naruto nodded, and smiled slightly. The two waited in silence for another few minutes, when Orochimaru returned.

"I am ready," Orochimaru said to Naruto. He didn't acknowledge the presence of Suigetsu.

"Good," Naruto said, getting up and standing in front of Orochimaru. He took off his black shirt to reveal the complex black markings on his stomach. The Eight Trigrams Seal.

Orochimaru smiled and held up his right hand, whose fingers lit up with purple flames at their tips. Orochimaru proceeded to press his fingers into the seal, and Naruto shuddered from the discomfort. He looked over at Suigetsu, who was watching with interest.

There were two body modifications Naruto had allowed upon his body. One was a reduced feeling of pain. It was because of this Naruto hadn't doubled over with pain.

The black markings on Naruto's stomach changed, foreign letters dancing around.

"Good, gooood..." Orochimaru purred, dropping his right hand back to his side.

' _Can you feel the difference?_ ' Naruto asked Kurama in his mind.

' _Yes, I can. I know I can send my chakra to you now. Remember to tell me when to empower you._ '

' _Of course. And again, I would like to thank you for your cooperation._ ' Naruto looked at Orochimaru. "Master, I would like to thank your for all the help you've given me." Naruto kept his voice controlled to not betray any emotion at all; Orochimaru was very perceptive.

"Yes, I see. I want you to play around with the nine tails, then report to me any progress at dusk. I'll be going now," Orochimaru said.

' _NOW!_ ' Naruto screamed in his mind, and he suddenly felt a surge of power rushing through him. The chakra, visibly evil, cloaked him in a red, bubbly extra layer. Naruto immediately created two red arms of chakra from his side to grab Orochimaru's head from each side.

The 'Orochimaru' turned into water, which spilled onto the ground. Naruto gaped in shock, and turned to Suigetsu, who winked.

"My intuition was correct, then," Orochimaru said, walking through the door into the room. He was cackling softly.

* * *

AN: SingingDarkrai requested that Suigetsu be featured prominently in the story, so I thought up a quite _interesting_ role for him to play...

Also, if you have any things you think could be fixed to make the story better, please review. I would like to make this story really good, and getting some advice from readers could go a long way, in my opinion. I won't take _everything_ asked of me, however (for example, "how about you kill Naruto and make Kurama the main character?" is something I wouldn't go with).


	3. Opening Arc: Escape

AN: I'm debating whether I should do NaruHaku (Naruto X femHaku) or NaruTayu (Naruto X Tayuya). Let me know in a PM or review which you prefer, if you do have a preference. Another option is Naruto X harem, where a lot of people love Naruto but he doesn't choose anyone. Do note that the romance will be gradual and realistic, not just another forced pairing made to get more readers. **Note: It is now finalized that this fanfic will be NaruTayu.**

* * *

"Orochimaru," Naruto said, turning to his master.

' _Brat, what now?_ ' Kurama said. Naruto was surprised to hear a hint of fear in the mind-voice.

' _I'm not sure, we can't attack him now if he can expect it. We'll have to see what he does next_.'

"Naruto, it appears you have already gained the favor of the nine tails. That is _very_ good news," Orochimaru said, licking his lips. "You have the rest of the day off. I have to test my new theory on bone marrow, so I'll be leaving now." Orochimaru turned and walked out of the room.

Naruto let out a breath he hadn't known he had been keeping. "Master spared me," he muttered.

"Aww, you didn't die? That's no fun," Suigetsu complained, stretching his arms above him.

Naruto glared at Suigetsu. "I am your superior, prisoner. You will tell me what Orochimaru told you about this."

Suigetsu smirked. "He told me about his intuition, to create a water clone, so on so forth."

"Why you? Orochimaru can make much more powerful clones by himself."

"Eh, I dunno. He'll have his reasons."

Naruto nodded. "So why aren't you caged up?"

Suigetsu got up from his seat and flexed his arms. "Eh, I dunno. Wanna do something together? Kill a few people, perhaps?"

Naruto shrugged. ' _Hey Kurama, is it possible to open a mind communication channel between Suigetsu and I? I want to convince him to team up with us without Orochimaru being able to know._ '

' _I can't do that, brat._ '

Naruto hung his head, feeling more down than ever. Was Orochimaru really that strong? Was he invincible? Naruto walked out of the room without talking more with Suigetsu, travelling through the stone hallways to reach his stone room.

All it had was a gray stone desk, a gray stone closet, and a colorful, plushy bed. The bed took up a third of the floor space.

' _What, are you sleeping?_ ' Kurama asked.

' _What makes you think that?_ ' Naruto asked.

' _That's all you do in this room, kid. Don't forget I've been seeing everything you've seen ever since you were born._ '

Naruto nodded. ' _Yes. So basically, I have another plan that you may be interested in. It's about escape._ '

' _You think I'm interested in escape? What do you think I have, one tail?_ '

Naruto raised an eyebrow. ' _I see, you believe tail count determines strength. According to my studies, that isn't the case, but I won't claim they are without falsities. Anyways, the one tails is claimed to have been passed down in the Sand Village for quite a long time. Want to escape there?_ '

' _Escape to the Sand Village? Why?_ '

' _Orochimaru may have pretended to think nothing of my murder attempt, but I know that's far from the case. You should know that, too. I should escape before he decides to dissect me or something. I_ am _the last Uzumaki, after all_.'

Kurama made a grumbling sound in Naruto's mind. ' _And why don't you just attack him instead? Afraid?_ '

Naruto shook his head. ' _I'm not afraid, I'm being perfectly rational here. I am far from capable of defeating Orochimaru. I should be able to say I know all of his powers, after spending so long with him, but I know he has some tricks up his sleeve he's been keeping from me. That, and I'm just plain not strong enough._ '

Kurama growled. ' _And yet you think you can escape?_ '

' _I have to try, at the very least._ ' Naruto shrugged. ' _Well, we should get going now._ '

' _What's your plan?_ '

Naruto left his room, and walked with haste down various stair cases to reach the lowest floor of the stone hideout. The basement has a different material that made up its borders; a hard red material that Naruto knew prevented proper chakra molding. The basement was empty except for a large snake head that jutted out of one of the walls, with candles in each of its eyes. The snake was also made of the mysterious red material.

"The slither of death beckons upon the cutting of leaves," Naruto said in a loud, strong voice. He waited a few seconds, after which a live, purple snake slithered out of the mouth of the snake head.

"What iss it?" The snake said in a raspy voice.

' _Ah, the Summoning Jutsu. I think I understand where this is going. Carry on,_ ' Kurama said, with a hint of pride. Naruto smirked, sure that he had a strong grasp over the tailed beast within him.

"I seek the scroll of summoning for a hawk."

The snake rose its head above the ground and hissed. "you sseek dangerouss power. Are you ssure, apprenticce?"

Naruto nodded curtly.

The snake hissed again, louder, then slithered back into the red mouth of the snake head. Naruto took a seat on the ground, the lotus pose, and closed his eyes in anticipation.

In order to gain a summoning contract, one had to gain the respect of the summoned. For hawks, that meant defeating the hawk knights in battle. Naruto hadn't made any summoning contracts before as he never found the need.

A few minutes later, the purple snake returned, this time with a scroll in its mouth. It dropped the scroll in front of Naruto, who picked it up and opened it. It was the hawk summoning contract.

"Thank you. The blades of grass will fall as you dismember," Naruto said. The snake bowed its head down a little before turning and slithering off into the snake head's mouth. The code sentence Naruto had said signified that the purple snake wasn't allowed to tell _anyone_ about what Naruto had done.

Naruto located the kanji that read 'Test'. He created a chakra scalpel - one of his favorite weapons - with his left hand, and cut a little skin off of his right hand's thumb. As it started bleeding, he pressed the thumb onto the Kanji.

Naruto was suddenly in a different area. He had been teleported from the hideout to the hawks' domain. It was a flatland with lush verdant grass spreading in every direction beyond the horizon. The brilliant blue sky was unobstructed by even a speck of a cloud, and was teeming with elephant-sized hawks.

Of course, Naruto hadn't come to get the summoning contract with hawks. They were just big dumb birds. Naruto was in a place far from Orochimaru; and the hawks would no doubt get rid of trackers humans brought with them through teleportation. By reaching the hawks' domain...

Naruto had freed himself from Orochimaru.

He wasn't exactly happy. After all, there had still been many things he would've liked to learn or discover. It was too risky, however, and he would no doubt be safer in a ninja village. Any would take him, as Naruto had read in history books that Jinchuriki were prized commodities. He would just need to fight for his rights, which wouldn't be difficult.

Three hawks flew down in front of Naruto, who observed the middle one.. It was a hawk much larger than any of the other hawks in sight.

Naruto bowed down, and said, "Hawk chief. I seek to reach any one of the great ninja villages."

The hawk chief, the one in the middle, stared at Naruto intently. "You! You think you can waltz in and command us! What insolence, and you are just an eyas!"

Naruto kept his face emotionless. He had expected that response. "Then I will fight one of your hawks. If I lose, you may kill me. If I win, you will assign a hawk to be my ride to anywhere I please for the following twenty hours." Naruto had left out the fact that he was a Jinchuriki; if he died, Kurama would be released from his body and probably kill every hawk in the area. He had also made sure to use precise terms, which hawks were known to respect.

The hawk chief glared at Naruto with his red eyes. "I accept. You will fight me, eyas."

Naruto smiled. "Who is Me? A hawk knight?"

"Me is me, eyas. I, the hawk chief, will face you one on one."

Naruto made an uneasy smile. "That's... a joke! Surely you wouldn't lower yourself so much as to fight a child!" He felt fear coursing through him. He was confident in his ability to dispatch any ordinary ninja hawk, yet the leader of a ninja animal species was always several levels higher than their subjects. They were considered to be on the level of high jonin. Naruto knew his limits well, and his strength was nowhere near that.

The hawk chief ruffled his feathers. "I do not joke around, eyas. I am currently free, and I already have the respect of my subjects."

"I am a jinchuriki!" Naruto blurted in desperation.

"I understand. I _had_ been suspicious of a dark presence within you. That doesn't mean I won't fight you, however. I will simply cut off your limbs, throw you in Ryuchi Cave, where you will bleed to death. That should take of those snakes."

Naruto's eyes widened with fear, fear of death - but then he regained his composure, saying in his mind again and again: ' _I am not scared, I am not scared, I am not scared-_ '

' _You realize I can hear that?_ ' Kurama said with an annoyed tone.

Naruto blushed briefly before focusing his attention on the hawk chief. He would have to analyze what he could do. The hawks had a great enmity with the snakes... the hawk chief had already created a use for Naruto, and if Naruto wanted to leverage the hawk/snake rivalry, he would have to promise something even greater.

"I can do one better!" Naruto exclaimed in triumph. "Keep me alive, I promise to kill the White Snake Sage within the next five years!"

The two hawks next to the hawk chief made strange gurgling noises which Naruto assumed to be laughter. The hawk chief slapped them both with a wing each, which shut them up. "Do you agree to a Sacred Promise, perhaps?"

A Sacred Promise was a written contract between two individuals well versed in chakra. The written contract will be followed, and if broken, the written punishment will be enacted by the will of nature itself. A Sacred Promise can only be made if both individuals truly believe that the contract will make their lives better.

Naruto nodded. "The punishment for me is becoming your slave."

The hawk chief's eyes had a mischievous glint to them. A very large black ink pen appeared from air in the right wing of the hawk chief, as well as a special parchment scroll on the ground.

Naruto watched as the hawk chief swiftly wrote down the contract, and showed it to Naruto. He would have to kill the White Snake Sage within the next five years, otherwise he would become the hawk chief's slave for the rest of his life. Also, the hawk chief would escort Naruto to a great ninja village within the next ten hours. If the White Snake Sage, Naruto, or the Hawk Chief died for other reasons within the five years, then the contract would become void.

Naruto smiled. He hadn't seen a fair and just being in a long time... well, actually his whole life. "I accept," he said along with the hawk chief.

Suddenly, the hawk chief started making the laughing-gurgly-sound. Naruto had to cover his ears. "Sorry," the hawk chief said, not sounding sorry. "I believe that as a jinchuriki, you will have the capabilities to do something as amazing as kill the White Snake Sage if you put your mind to it."

Naruto nodded.

' _Ah, this is fine for you,_ ' Kurama said. ' _Go to the Leaf Village. They are the ones I would like for you to defeat, to crush their dreams. After all, they are the ones who have been causing me so much pain._ '

' _Very well, Kurama,_ ' Naruto thought, then said, "hawk chief, would you please send me off to the Leaf Village?"

The hawk chief nodded. "If you so desire. However, I will have to knock you out so you can't ascertain this area's location. That information in the wrong hands can be very disastrous." The next second, Naruto was hit by a strange jutsu he didn't know and he fell to the ground.

Kurama was still awake, however.

* * *

AN: An eyas is a young hawk. Since Naruto is a young boy, the ninja hawks call him that.

Also, a Sacred Promise is a jutsu I made up; it isn't canon. I'll try to keep the number of jutsu I add in this story to a minimum, because that will ensure familiarity among readers.

Finally, if you think Naruto was weak in this chapter... I'm being realistic here. He can't start defeating hawk chiefs at the age of ten. Don't worry, you'll see his strength is worthy of Itachi or Shisui soon enough.


	4. Opening Arc: The New Leaf Village

AN: Thanks for all the love and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Naruto woke up atop a tree branch in the middle of a dense forest. Confused, he rubbed his eyes and sat up.

' _You are finally awake!_ ' Kurama growled.

Naruto blinked. ' _Eh? Where am I... oh, is this near the Leaf Village?_ '

' _Yes._ '

' _I see. The eagle chief knocked me out to prevent me from finding out where their domain is... but I notice you weren't knocked out._ '

Kurama gave out a raspy laugh. ' _Yes, that is true. I know exactly where the hawk domain is._ '

Naruto grinned. ' _Great. We can use that information if the need arises. For now, however, I believe we should enter the Leaf Village._ '

Kurama grunted in agreement, and Naruto walked up the tree trunk - concentrating chakra on his feet - to get above the forest canopy. He looked around, and saw the gates to the Leaf Village only a couple dozen meters away. Naruto ran down the tree trunk and across the ground to get there. He felt his heart flutter a little, and he let it. He _was_ returning to the Leaf Village... after almost six years...

Naruto stepped into the cleared-out path that stretched out from the gates to some distance beyond. The two ninja guards standing beside the open gates noticed Naruto, and one spat out the alcohol he was drinking while the other simply fell to the ground, unconscious.

Naruto walked up to the guard who was still standing. He allowed a small smirk to show on his face. "I seek to take residence within the Leaf Village. I hope this is possible."

The guard gaped at Naruto, then shook his head vigorously. "St-stay here!" The guard shouted, as if speaking to an enemy kage. "I-I-I have to contact the Kohage! I mean the Gokake! I m-mean the Hokage!" The guard ran inside the Leaf Village as if his life depended on it.

' _That's crappy security. You could just walk in right now,_ ' Kurama said.

Naruto nodded. ' _Yep. How about it? I hate waiting._ '

So Naruto stepped over the body of the fallen guard and entered the Leaf Village. Out in front of him was the Hokage Rock; it displayed the five Hokages' faces carved out of rock. Orochimaru had told Naruto everything about his birth circumstances, about his parents and the nine tails attack. He gazed proudly upon the fourth face.

Then he observed the fifth face. After Naruto's father died, the third Hokage took over, but Naruto had learned that after his disappearance, the third Hokage had retired due to the shame of being unable to protect him. After a political battle, Danzo Shimura became the fifth Hokage. He ruled over the village with a cold and hard iron fist, which many disliked. However, it had proven to be beneficial for the village, returning it to a contender for being the strongest ninja village. That was something Naruto had to respect.

' _They have rebuilt it, I see._ ' Kurama noted.

Naruto located the Hokage's office, one of the tallest buildings, and hopped over roofs to reach it. However, not a few seconds later, four masked ninja intercepted him atop a ramen shop.

"Naruto Uzumaki. The Hokage wishes to see you in person," one said in a gruff voice. He was wearing a shark-styled porcelain mask.

"That is fine," Naruto said. The masked ninja came closer to him and weaved a hand sign. The five of them teleported with a puff of smoke.

Naruto found himself in the Hokage's office. It was an oval-shaped room with large windows built into the walls that overlooked the village. The Hokage, Danzo, was sitting beside a large wooden desk full of various scrolls and books.

The four masked ninja teleported away from the room, leaving Naruto alone with Danzo, who smiled wryly.

"Hello," Naruto said. He was in very unknown territory, so he knew it was best to make the second move.

"Hello, Naruto Uzumaki. May I ask where you were gone? Did you chase after a butterfly, perhaps?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. I left the village on my own to get stronger, and I have returned after gaining that strength."

Danzo got up from his seat. "I know you are lying, but I don't actually care that much. What's more important is why exactly you are here."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I have come to my home to live here. I plan to become a ninja."

Danzo tilted his head to the side. "I see. Do you swear loyalty to the Leaf Village? As a jinchuriki, I am perfectly fine letting you into the village."

Naruto nodded. "I swear loyalty to the Leaf Village's betterment. Also, you might be interested to know my plans for its future."

' _Brat, not even I know what plans those are. What are you talking about?_ ' Kurama grumbled.

' _Patience, Kurama,_ ' Naruto thought to Kurama.

Danzo opened his mouth to respond to Naruto, but the door to the office burst open. An old man with wild eyes stomped inside. He located Naruto, and his jaw dropped.

"NARUTOOOOOOO!" The man shouted. He was the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Naruto smirked. "Ah, Hiruzen. You should also listen to my future plans for this village."

The third Hokage's eyes burned with even more fury. "HOW! WHY! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!" The third Hokage buried his face in his hands. "You don't understand what you've done..." he whimpered.

Naruto shrugged. "Stuff happens. Well, sorry, I guess." Naruto turned to Danzo, who was watching with interest. "Danzo, I'm a bit hungry. Do you have something?"

Danzo frowned as Hiruzen fell to the ground and started sobbing. "Naruto, it surprises me that you are calling me by my first name. I am the Hokage, your superior. You are at the age to start at the ninja academy, let alone even a genin!"

Naruto sighed. "If you say so."

Danzo nodded. "Good. Now you may tell me about your grand plans for our village. I am genuinely interested," he said with a bored face.

"I want the Leaf Village to monopolize the ninja world."

"NARUTOOOO!" Hiruzen shouted as Danzo was about to respond. Danzo's lips curled in distaste. "What a disgusting fool... Bear, take him away." A masked ninja wearing a bear mask appeared out of thin air and teleported off with the former Hokage in a wisp of smoke.

"So. Tell me how you plan to achieve this."

Naruto grinned, and quickly covered it. "I see. I am overjoyed to see you haven't disregarded my idea. Essentially, I become Hokage and start a war between the other villages. I'll include the minor ninja villages, and the samurai as well. There are other pieces I am not obliged to tell you about."

Danzo frowned again. "I see. In any case, you will first need to become Hokage, and for that you will need to join the ninja academy. Is that understood?"

Naruto nodded. "How do I apply?" Naruto was curious about the changes to the ninja academy, and he was also interested in finding out more about his peers. He had heard about the Uchiha Massacre, and the lone Uchiha who had survived. That kid would certainly be interesting.

Danzo took out one of the books on his desk and ripped out a page. Naruto walked over and took the page, along with a blue pen. It was a form to complete in order to enter the academy. "Fill it out and hand it to me when you are done," Danzo instructed.

Naruto sat down on the ground and looked over the sheet. It asked for some basic personal information, including name, clan, date of birth, and so on. Naruto found no reason to not fill it out, so did so and presented it to Danzo.

"You are lucky, as the academy entrance test starts tomorrow. Everyone will be nine to ten years old, like you. All kids will meet at the front gates."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Entrance test?"

Danzo nodded. "Yes. There has been a lot of growing interest in being a ninja among people in the Land of Fire. Applications were due last week, so we have a total number of applicants: 461, including you. 81 will qualify to the academy."

Naruto thought about it. "Thanks," he said, and walked out of the office doors. The ninja world was pretty competitive.

Naruto took a good amount of time to find his way down to the bottom floor of the building, after which he exited. He looked around.

' _Now what,_ ' he asked Kurama.

' _Who knows? Maybe find out more about your competition_ ,'

Naruto laughed. ' _My competition? Heh, I'm obviously making it in. Most applicants are probably just random civilians who can only throw some kunai_ around.'

"Should I be concerned about you randomly laughing for no reason?" A bored voice said. But it wasn't just any bored voice; for some reason, it sounded like _the_ bored voice.

Naruto looked at the boy. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I'm a better ninja than you."

The boy sighed. "What a drag. I'm Shikamaru, and whatever, I frankly don't really care if you're better than even Hashirama."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. The boy seemed to be about his age. An applicant? Naruto asked this to Shikamaru.

"Yeah, I am. My parents told me to, it's kind of a pain. The academy is so rigorous now, it used to be so much easier and laid-back..."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"I gotta go to this grill place with my two friends, want to come? We can talk there."

Naruto nodded. Knowledge was priceless, and this boy knew more about the academy than he did. So Naruto followed Shikamaru to a grill, and sat down next to table with him. There were two seats on either side of the table, and Naruto sat opposite of Shikamaru. The table had a pit with coal in it.

"So what's happened to the academy?" Naruto asked, not wasting time.

"A lot. It's a three year program, its located outside of the Leaf Village too. We're supposed to live in dorms. That's the good part. I won't have to wake up to my mom yelling at me..."

"I see. Thanks for that. But how is the education? What do they teach?"

Before Shikamaru could respond, two other young kids filled up the two vacant seats; a blonde haired girl sat next to Shikamaru, while a fat boy sat next to Naruto.

"Who are you two?" Naruto asked.

"Hey! It's that kid my parents told me about!" The blonde haired girl shouted.

"Who?" The fat kid asked, a blank expression on his face. Naruto thought that if that fat boy was taking the entrance test, he would surely fail. He was mentally and physically crappy, after all.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, son of the fourth Hokage and host of Kurama, the nine tailed beast," Naruto said with pride.

"Host of who? Son of a Hokage?" The fat boy said, scratching one of his chins.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru. "Honestly, is this fat boy here just to entertain you? He doesn't seem useful for anything."

"Hey!" The blonde girl yelled. Many others in the grill looked at her with annoyed expressions, but she ignored them. "Choji is our friend, and the heir to the Akimichi Clan!"

Naruto sighed. "What is that, some sort of fat person clan? I honestly haven't heard of it."

"It is, actually. They use their fatness to... oh crap, no..." Shikamaru said, annoyed at first but scared a second later.

Naruto turned to Choji to see his face bulging and red. "What, is he farting?" Naruto asked.

"ANNNNNGGGEEEERRR!" Choji shouted.

* * *

After ten minutes full of yelling and screaming and running, Naruto was walking on the streets of the Leaf Village, alone, with his hands in his pockets.

Naruto reached the boundary of the Uchiha residential area. The Uchiha clan were one of the most powerful clans. Orochimaru had even spent some of his time with a group called the Akatsuki to steal the body of Itachi Uchiha. The only other known Uchiha alive was Sasuke, who supposedly still lived in the Uchiha residential area.

Naruto walked passed the signs that read, 'do not go beyond this point', and looked around at the dirty and broken houses everywhere. There was still some dried blood splattered around. As Naruto walked, he felt his chest tighten.

' _Sasuke must be like me... all alone. And he didn't even get Orochimaru to take him in. He must be so lonely. And it was his brother who killed his clan,_ ' Naruto thought.

' _The disgusting Uchiha clan... if you ask me, it serves them right. They are vile monsters, the Uchiha,_ ' Kurama said, anger clear in his mind-voice.

Naruto ignored the comment as he continued walking. He knew Sasuke was the younger son of the Uchiha head, so he looked for large buildings. He eventually reached one such house; and standing right outside of it was a young child throwing kunai at a target.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Naruto said.

Sasuke dropped the kunai in his hand and turned to face Naruto. "Whiskers... you must be Naruto Uzumaki, the boy who disappeared. You may leave, now."

Naruto took a step closer to Sasuke. "Can you feel the pain? The pain of loss? The pain that drives you forward?" Naruto asked, his face serious.

Sasuke looked at Naruto with interest. "How would you know about it?" he asked.

"My parents were killed when I was born. I had no clan members to turn to. Everyone hated me because of the beast sealed within me."

Sasuke sat down on the steps to his house. "What do you want from me?"

"I want to be friends with you. You and I, we are better than the rest of these ninja scum. Together, we can grow from each other, and get stronger than previously thought possible."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Friendship is meaningless."

Naruto sighed. "In that case, you are too immature to be capable, then. I don't see the point of your training."

"Hey! Let's battle then!" Sasuke challenged.

Naruto smirked, and cracked his knuckles. "It wouldn't be good to battle right before the academy entrance test, would it?"

Sasuke hesitated. "Then we'll battle during the exam. Now leave."

Naruto nodded. "I will wait until you mature, young Uchiha." He turned to leave, but...

' _Hey, tell him about his brother,_ ' Kurama suggested.

Naruto smiled and turned back around. "Sasuke Uchiha, would you be interested in knowing about your brother?" he said aloud. Then he thought, ' _Thanks, Kurama. That slipped my mind._ '

Sasuke jolted upwards, and stared at Naruto, eyes wild. "What about him?"

"He is a part of an organization called the Akatsuki. It means 'dawn'," Naruto said, reciting what Orochimaru had told him.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I'd like to know more, Naruto."

Naruto smiled. "If you agree to become my friend, I can tell you everything I know."

Sasuke frowned, then nodded. "You are providing useful information. Plus, you are a jinchuriki and the son of a Hokage. You can be my first friend, then."

* * *

AN: And that is the end of the Opening Arc! Next up is the Academy Entrance Arc.


	5. Academy Arc: New People

AN: The results for who Naruto will be paired with is ready! Naruto X Tayuya! It also makes more sense to me; after all, both Naruto and Tayuya are affiliated with Orochimaru in this story. Sorry for those of you who wanted NaruHaku.

Another important note: I've gotten a message from a reader that this project is too ambitious. Yes, this is very ambitious (the story is planned to last several hundred thousand words). However, with all of the support I'm getting, it wouldn't be hard to me to see this through to the end. So no one worry, there's only a 5% chance I'll even think of dropping this story.

* * *

Naruto smiled. "If you agree to become my friend, I can tell you everything I know."

Sasuke frowned, then nodded. "You are providing useful information. Plus, you are a jinchuriki and the son of a Hokage. You can be my first friend, then."

Naruto nodded. "The Akatsuki plan to strike in five to six years, apparently, to collect all of the jinchuriki for a purpose I do not know of," Naruto said. Sasuke listened attentively. "If you want to kill him or something, you can do so then; they'll be out of hiding then. If you try earlier, I doubt you'll ever find your brother."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "How do you know this?"

"Between you and me, I was trained by Orochimaru," Naruto revealed. He had read somewhere that revealing secrets to a friend increased the strength of the bond. Naruto needed a strong understanding and grasp of every powerful ninja in the village if he wanted to rule the entire world as the Hokage one day.

"Orochimaru? He's a missing-nin, right?"

Naruto nodded. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Don't worry, after getting lessons from him I ran away. In a sense, I leeched off of him."

Sasuke had a strange glint in his eye. "I like that way of thinking..." he said darkly.

"The Leaf Village has changed since I was gone. Can you show me where the orphanage is?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "I'm a bit busy. Just ask around. See you later."

Naruto sighed. It would take some time for Sasuke to truly fall into his grasp.

'W _hat are you going to do?_ ' Kurama asked.

Naruto shrugged. ' _I guess I'll just go to one of these abandoned Uchiha houses and make myself at home. I'll train until night time, then sleep._ '

Kurama growled in appreciation. ' _Good. You better destroy everyone else in the academy, alright? I won't settle for a mediocre jinchuriki.'_

 _'_ _I doubt you need to worry, Kurama,_ ' Naruto said, finding the house he would make his own.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto woke up and walked around the Leaf Village streets, looking for a place to get breakfast. He noticed a shop called Ichiraku Ramen. Shrugging, Naruto took a seat there, and noticed a man next to him. The man had a ninja headband.

"Hey there, custo-oh my god! Naruto!" A man in white chef clothing and a burly stature stared at Naruto with wide eyes, holding a bowl of ramen in his hands.

The man next to Naruto turned to see him. "Naruto? Oh... the kid who went missing..."

Naruto looked at both of them, staring at him. He guessed he would have to get used to it. "Yes, may I have a bowl of ramen? I don't have money, though..." Naruto trailed off, rubbing the back of his head. He hadn't ever needed money before.

The man next to Naruto shook his head. "No, it's on me. I'll pay."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as the cook nodded, set the bowl of ramen in his hand on the table, and got to work making noodles for a new bowl.

"Uh, thanks?" Naruto said. "Who are you?"

"I'm Iruka Umino. A chunin here at the Leaf Village, but I spend most of my time out teaching at the academy."

Naruto tried his best to hide an evil grin. ' _I see... this is my chance to influence a teacher..._ '

"I shall then call you Iruka Sensei? After all, I'm taking the academy entrance test."

Iruka nodded. "I guess so. Uh, good luck."

Naruto received his ramen bowl as Iruka paid for it. Naruto and Iruka slurped up their breakfast in silence.

"So, what subject do you teach?" Naruto asked. He wanted more discussion in the limited time they had together, so he could learn more about the Sensei and also make a good impression.

"Back before Danzo became Hokage, the teachers taught all subjects for their own class. That's what I did. Now, I teach Chakra Control, and I'm head of House Frove."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, intrigued. He was about to ask what House Frove was, but then he decided not to. If he kept on asking questions about the school, he wouldn't be able to connect to the Sensei personally.

"That's interesting," Naruto said, then tried thinking about what else to say. ' _Can you help me, Kurama?_ ' Naruto told Kurama what he wanted out of Iruka quickly. When he was finished, Iruka was half done with his ramen bowl.

' _Well, say you look forward to meeting him at the academy,'_ Kurama advised.

"That's so overused!" Naruto hissed. Then he turned red as he realized he had said that allowed.

"What?" Iruka asked, looking concerned.

Naruto glanced at him and took a deep breath. "Sorry, just thinking aloud."

' _That's your fault! Now he thinks I'm weird!_ ' Naruto accused.

' _No, it's really not my fault. And everyone thinks you're weird anyways._ ' Kurama said.

Naruto sighed and finished his ramen in silence. Iruka finished as well and they both walked out of the shop in opposite directions.

' _I feel like an idiot, why can't I think of any good ideas? I'm supposed to be smart, but my mind just doesn't seem to be built for brains_ ,' Naruto thought. He had to take a few seconds to confirm he hadn't said that aloud. After all, the various people around him were giving him weird looks.

' _Well, I have to go to the academy entrance test thing. We meet up at the front gates, I think_."

Naruto took some time to navigate around the city and eventually find the front gates, where hundreds of kids his age and few adults already stood. Naruto shrugged and walked into the crowd. He tried searching for any familiar faces, especially Sasuke's. He saw a bunch of girls crowding around someone a few meters away, and decided that Sasuke wouldn't be there. He continued searching, but was cut short as a loud voice spoke up.

"Everyone is now here! All 461 participants!" The voice said. It was a young man standing atop a portable podium; a young man with spiky gray hair and a dark blue mask covering more than half of his face. His ninja headband was tilted to cover his left eye. He was holding some sort of book in a hand, and wore a bored expression. "You will all run down the path, outside of the Leaf Village, until you see the red flags. Pick one up, and you pass the first round. Don't worry, we have academy staff positioned around to ensure safety. And no attacking each other or going into the forests, those result in a disqualification."

The man then disappeared along with the podium.

It took a few seconds for the first few kids to start running down the path, and another few second before Naruto realized the round had started. He was kind of bummed out that it was just a speed race and he couldn't attack his competitors, but since it was just the first round, that was to be expected.

What was unexpected was how quickly they had started the test. Naruto was already running, but some had a head-start on him. He noticed that the girl in the front, with lavender colored eyes (Naruto knew that made her a Hyuga), was constantly looking at Sasuke, who was second and very close behind. Naruto assumed that meant she wanted to make sure she stayed in the lead.

Naruto was around 10th place after a few minutes, but he wasn't interested in just showing off. He was interested in getting the best in the final round, where he assumed there would be more... interesting stuff. He knew at least 81 kids would pass the round for sure, so staying at 10th place, maybe even gong back a little, that was fine.

And then Naruto saw the first booby trap. On the path out front lay a long (maybe a couple dozen kilometers long) stretch of gray spikes. Naruto shrugged, not finding that to be a problem at all. He watched as Hinata and the other few in front simply jump over the spikes in one big leap, a feat impossible for non-ninja.

Naruto wanted to do something a little more fancy. As he reached the spikes, he used one of his power moves; a power move was one of his few jutsu that were super powerful and could easily dispatch an average genin, or maybe even a chunin, under the old Leaf Village.

He used the Adamantine Sealing Chains, not worrying about revealing a power move in front of everyone, and wrapped two chains around his legs and stuck into the ground beneath him. He then shot forward, the chains propelling him over the spikes and forward. Since he had already revealed his ability to wield the chains, he decided to just use them and get in first place.

So that's what he did. He shot forward, passed Sasuke and Hinata, and even further than that. He removed the chains from existence, and continued running from his location, which was far away from everyone else. Naruto smirked as he ran, the trees a blur on either side of him.

Until he heard a scream from behind him. He glanced behind and noticed a pink-hired girl screaming loudly, a chakra amplified sound. She was running quickly, and Sasuke frowned as she outran him.

' _There are a lot of interesting kids here, for sure. They are all running, though, so I would assume that either they are actually all weaklings or are hiding their jutsu in case they need to use them for battle later on_ ,' Kurama said.

Naruto nodded. ' _I would hope - and believe - it's the latter; if the Leaf Village had just a bunch of weak idiots, they wouldn't be doing as great as they are._ '

Kurama grunted in agreement. Naruto continued running for about another half an hour, and although he wasn't tiring, some faster runners managed to overtake him. Naruto didn't care that much about it, wanting to wait and see if there would be another obstacle that would mix things up.

There was; eventually, the pink haired girl in the lead stopped running, and Naruto and the others caught up, wondering what was going on. Naruto found out there was a web of tripwire everywhere, connected to the trees on either side of the path. The wire was so thin, it was hard to see them, but they seemed to go on as far as the eyes could see.

' _How long is this course?_ ' Naruto questioned.

' _How should I know?_ ' Kurama grumbled.

' _That was rhetorical. Anyways, do you think we sho-_ ' Naruto was in the middle of thinking to Kurama when Sasuke, who was in the group at the front, weaved a few hand signs and... blew fire out of his mouth. The fire jumped from tripwire to tripwire, devouring as much as it could, and whenever it reached a tree, a mysterious blast of water from within the forest removed it.

' _I see, the academy staff are here._ ' Naruto waited along with everyone else for the fire to subside. However, one kid who had just reached the start of the tripwire web just continued running through the burning mess, seemingly intangible.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. The boy had worn a purple scarf and brown, baggy clothing. His hair was black and cut short. ' _He can be first for all I care, I'll just destroy him in later rounds,_ ' Naruto thought.

' _You're just salty, brat._ ' Kurama said.

Naruto frowned. ' _Fine then, how about I get first place in every round?_ '

' _You're going to have to try harder if you want to do that,_ '

"Very well. I won't reveal any more of my jutsu, however. I'll just use the chakra chains... and WIN! MWA HA HA!" Naruto shouted. He realized he had said that aloud a few seconds later, when everyone around him stared in his direction.

* * *

AN: So yeah, there will be a few OC characters, but they won't be main characters or anything, just side characters. If you have any OC character ideas for other kids in the academy, you can PM me and I will most likely add them.

Also, the next chapter will be the first one not under the general point of view of Naruto; instead, it will be under Tayuya's.


	6. Tayuya VP: Burnt to the Ground

AN: I have a discord server based on my fanfiction/original stories. If you're interested/want to know more, please see my profile.

Also, the Sound Four members are three years younger than their canon counterparts, since I wanted to decrease the age gap between Tayuya and Naruto.

* * *

One year earlier...

* * *

Tayuya put a flute to her lips... and played it.

She was sitting atop a boulder in a field of verdant grass that danced from side to side with the gentle breeze. The sun's rays caressed the scenery, gleaming alongside a few puffy clouds swimming across the sky.

Tayuya was a ten year old girl with pinkish-red long hair and a love for the flute. She lived in a reclusive village out in the frontier, where life was boring and people were nosy and annoying. That was why Tayuya spent most of her time out in the fields near the village, all alone, playing the flute. She had been playing since she was two years old, and she planned to play the flute until her last breath.

As she played, she heard a scream in the distance. Tayuya turned around atop the boulder and looked out at the horizon, where the village was. She could hear more screams now, and black smoke was rising from the area.

Eyes widening, Tayuya ran to her home, unsure of what was happening but knowing it wasn't normal. Heaving, sweating, Tayuya reached a few minutes later. She looked around frantically.

The village's buildings were made mostly of straw and wood. And every single building was ablaze.

"No... no..." Tayuya muttered, shaking her head vigorously. "Why..." Tayuya hadn't liked the villagers, sure, but her family still fed her and gave her the necessities she needed.

Tayuya ran to her house, running through the mud road between the burning buildings, smoke going into her eyes and tears spilling out. Tayuya found her house, a hut... or, it _was_ a hut. Tayuya found it as a pile of ash. "My mother had been sleeping in there..." Tayuya fell to the ground and shivered, despite the intense heat.

"Father... where is father!" Tayuya got up and looked around.

In the distance, Tayuya heard loud voices. Running there, Tayuya found her father - a burly man with short, dark red hair - helping a baby out of a window. The baby was crying loudly, and Tayuya's father had several large black marks across his skin. He was grimacing.

"Father!" Tayuya cried, running closer. She saw her father fall to the ground, his eyes lifeless, blood and pus and whatever-else seeping out of various areas on his body. In his arms was the baby.

Tayuya took the baby, who she knew was Hikari: an eight month old infant with blonde hair. The baby's right eye was now crushed, and so was the skin around it. Tayuya threw up, then ran to reach out of the village. Her family was now gone for sure, and the baby was what her father had died protecting. So Tayuya would live alone with the baby.

Tayuya managed to exit the burning village with the baby without any significant injury. Without looking back, Tayuya continued running into the fields from before. The beauty was marred by ash and smoke, and sun was no longer elegant, but malicious in its hot light. The clouds swam around, as if mocking the mass death that occurred below. It was no longer grass that danced to the wind, but the scent of rot and burn.

Tayuya jumped atop the boulder, and watched with fear as a spark of fire jumped onto the field of grass.

It was chaos.

The fire spread faster than Tayuya's eye could follow, green turning into red, until Tayuya was surrounded by a sea of fire.

Tayuya sat down, hr gaze hardening. "I should just die..." she muttered. Then she looked at the child, and shook her head. "No... I will protect you first..."

"You are stupid, young child," A slithery voice said. Tayuya looked around her, and didn't see anything but smoke and fire.

Suddenly, the entire scenery and temperature changed.

Tayuya was in a strange, yet cool, building with red walls. The only objects in the room were a round table and two chairs. There was a man with deathly pale skin sitting on one of the chairs. He was looking at Tayuya with a strange smile.

"W-Who are you?" Tayuya asked.

"Sit down, young girl. You are now my prisoner."

"Prisoner! Why?" Tayuya sat down. "And where is the baby? My flute?"

The man's smile grew larger. "Your flute burnt in the flames. And the baby... I left it there. The smoke will congest its lungs and kill it before the fire burns it up, I would imagine."

Tayuya's jaw dropped. "How cruel can you get!"

The man sighed. "My name is Orochimaru, and I study dark science. As I said, you are my prisoner. However, you have a special chance to redeem yourself."

Tayuya raised an eyebrow. "B-but... I don't understand..."

"You could become one of my special servants. You see, I've noticed your special ability with the flute, and there is a very special power that could go _very_ well with that musical strength."

Tayuya wasn't listening, however. Her thoughts were full of her house burning, her dad falling dead, and the baby crying.

"Hm, you're still in trauma. That's no good. Stay here for an hour, and I'll send my apprentice to see you then. If you don't have your thoughts assembled by then, I'll have him kill you," Orochimaru said. After saying that, he turned into a mass of hissing green snakes who slithered out of the room.

* * *

One hour later, Tayuya was in her seat in the same room, her mind clear. A blonde boy with whiskers walked into the room and sat down on the other chair. He seemed to be a little bit younger than her.

"Hello," he said, his voice tired. His eyes were half closed and his head was slightly drooped.

Tayuya hesitated. Was this really the apprentice of that scary man?

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, jinchuriki of the nine tailed beast and last of my clan. I'm nine years old, by the way."

"So?" Tayuya asked. She wasn't particularly interested in him. She thought he looked a little cute, but that wasn't on her mind.

"Do you wish to become Orochimaru's loyal servant?" Naruto asked after a sigh.

"No? Why should I be someone's servant?" Tayuya was confused.

"Because otherwise I have to kill you. And trust me, I don't like killing innocents. So what do you say?"

Tayuya frowned. "What do I have to do?" Tayuya wanted to play along, but escape when she had the chance. How to escape, and what she would do after escaping... she wasn't sure.

Naruto smiled. "You'll be in a jail cell - a large one - where you can train. In around a year, there will be an all out tournament with the other participants. Once only four people are left alive, the tournament is over and the four winners become Orochimaru's servants."

Tayuya felt sick. "Why? What kind of-"

Naruto shook his head. "Soon, you will learn to embrace this kind of world. Your heart will harden. I've pretty much grown up here, so that happened to me a long time ago."

Tayuya hesitated. "How do I train? I don't know killing..."

"Orochimaru tells me you are great with the flute. In your jail cell, there is a good amount of information for how you could utilize that. For example, I believe hypnosis is one common sound based technique you could use. I also would imagine their are summoning beasts that could be controlled by flute sounds. But you can pick and choose what you want to get stronger with."

Tayuya nodded. She hadn't ever wanted to fight, but stronger people got what they wanted. Tayuya wanted to become so strong, even Orochimaru would bow down before her. "Fine. Lead me to my cell."

Naruto sighed and a clone of him popped out of the air next to him. "Follow this shadow clone," the sitting Naruto said. Then the sitting Naruto vanished into smoke.

"He can make a shadow clone from another shadow clone? I didn't know chakra was this useful..." Tayuya murmured before following the standing Naruto.

* * *

Tayuya walked into the large, dimly lit field; the battlegrounds. It was the day she had been anticipating: the all out battle to determine who would become Orochimaru's servants... and who would die.

Tayuya, as the blonde boy had said, was now hardened at heart. Once in a while, a bulky man would walk into her cell, interrupt her training, and torture her for an hour. Then he would leave, and Tayuya was expected to continue. Training and sleeping were all she did; she slept eight hours, and trained the other 16 hours.

Her plan was to win, become the pale weirdo's servant, then assassinate him whenever she would get the chance. As she looked around, she saw her competition wasn't that bad; everyone was on edge, waiting for the signal to start killing. A strange looked kid her age (there weren't many kids her age in the battlefield) had two heads. The kid somehow _seemed_ strong, as if he emanated an aura of superiority.

Tayuya huffed. She expected to shine as the brightest light of the lot, after all of that training. She planned to burn them all, as Orochimaru had done to the people of her village.

"Everyone, hello and welcome. The match will start when a large fire will alight in the center of the field," the voice seemed to come from nowhere... and at the same time, everywhere. As soon as the mysterious voice had said, "fire", the field went completely dark. Tayuya couldn't see a thing, but she could hear the quick breaths of the people spread around the edge of the field.

"Only four people will survive, and become my servant. The fire will go out once the battle ends. If anyone attacks anyone else after the battle ends, I will personally torture said person for a few days straight..." the voice had a strange glee to it, as if a child were getting a new toy. "Anything goes. You are not required to kill anyone; if you can manage to hide until the end, that is a strength on its own. Note that if you try exiting the perimeter of the battlefield, you will be killed instantly."

Just after the voice finished, a large fire lit up in the center of the field, casting dancing shadows everywhere; it was the only light source. However, since everyone was on the edges of the circular field, no one could be seen yet.

Tayuya thought about what strategy she wanted to employ. She could try hiding at the edge of the field, where she couldn't be seen... but she couldn't see others, and there might be some who had night vision or reliance on another sense.

Tayuya put her wooden flute to her lips and summoned her three Doki - large beasts which were large in size and almost peerless in speed. They were great tools she could control with her flute. Not only were they great physical attackers, they could absorb an enemy's chakra.

Tayuya walked out closer to the light and kept two of her Doki next to her and one a little farther out. The Doki's only flaw was that they were mindless; if they saw an enemy attacking Tayuya, but she didn't, they wouldn't move a muscle. That was why Tayuya found it beneficial to stand in the light, where she could better observe her surroundings.

It took only a few seconds for the first enemy to come running at her. He was a middle aged man with mechanical eyes and no lips. He wore a gray robe and held a strange curved scythe.

Tayuya's Doki that was standing further out, her first line of defense, was standing on the opposite side of Tayuya. Nevertheless, after Tayuya played a short tune, it jumped above her and the other two Doki, and crushed the man from above with one hand. Blood sprayed everywhere, and the mechanical eyes, still in proper shape, rolled on the ground.

This went on for another hour or so. Sometimes, a few would manage to dodge the outer Doki, but the inner two would easily pulverize the opponent.

Tayuya yawned. "Come on! This is so boring!" Tayuya yelled.

She spotted movement from the corner of her eye. A fat man came out of the darkness, staring at the outer Doki intently.

"Hey fatso! Shove off!" Tayuya yelled.

The man reddened. "I'm destroy you and your three monsters! My name's Jirobo!"

"Who cares!"

"It's the name of the one who will kill you!"

Tayuya didn't respond. She didn't need to her; her actions would speak in her stead. She put her flute up to her lips, and controlled the outer Doki to go on the offensive. However, the fat man ran directly into the Doki, unlike anyone else in the battle Tayuya had faced. The fat man grabbed a fist of the Doki and spun the beast around several times before throwing it in Tayuya's direction. She controlled the inner two Doki to grab the flying body of the third and set it upright again.

Tayuya smiled. A worthy opponent... comparatively. She was still far more powerful.

Putting the flute to her lips, Tayuya sang a lilting tune... the tune to use the jutsu she created: Demonic Flute: Phantom Sound Chains. Tayuya commanded one of her Doki to run out and kill the fat man, who had easily fallen into the Genjutsu she had created. However, as the Doki took its first step forward, the fire at the center of the battlefield went out. Tayuya hastily commanded her Doki to leave the realm, and also ended the Genjutsu. She frowned. She had wanted to kill that man. Then she realized that as he was still alive, he had also won the tournament.

Tayuya was suddenly transported outside of the battlefield and into a sunny field outside. Tayuya covered her eyes from the sudden brightness.

Once her eyes had properly adjusted, she saw the fat man, Orochimaru, and two others - one of which was the two headed boy she had seen.

"You will now be known as the Sound Four," Orochimaru said, grinning. "Your first assignment must be completed within ten days."

"What assignment?" One head of the two headed boy asked.

"Find and bring back Naruto Uzumaki. Alive."

* * *

AN: Please let me know how you like these chapters under other people's viewpoints; I like them as it adds a fullness to the world, and shows that many things are happening at once. I characterized Tayuya much more than in the manga/anime, and chapters like this help me do that.

By the way, the first prose sentence (Tayuya put a flute to her lips... and played it) was a reference to another anime... do you know which?


	7. Academy Arc: Failed Relations

AN: Back to Naruto's viewpoint...

* * *

"You're strange," Sasuke said.

Naruto blushed and rubbed the back of his head. He hadn't sounded cool, and he wanted to sound cool in order for everyone else to fall under his control so he could rise to the top and take over the-

Naruto noticed there were no people around him. He looked around in shock... he couldn't hear a thing, either.

' _Kurama! What is this?_ ' Naruto asked.

A few seconds later, Naruto was back among the kids waiting next to the burning tripwire, his hearing back to normal.

' _A Genjutsu?_ ' Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kurama sighed. ' _Yes, brat, it is. Since we have separate minds, whenever you fall under a Genjutsu I can easily pull you out of it._ '

Naruto nodded. ' _I see. Does that mean I am immune to Genjutsu?_ '

' _Maybe, but there could be some very powerful Genjutsu out there that could affect both of us at the same time. I wouldn't expect mere children like all of you to be able to use those kinds of jutsu any time soon, though._ '

Naruto sat down on the ground and looked up at the blazing sun. ' _Well, let's get going, then._ ' Naruto released chakra chains from beneath his feet and shot high into the sky, feeling exhilaration as the air raced past him. Smoke from the flames below clouded his vision for a few seconds, until he zoomed past the tripwire maze and flew over the path beyond.

As Naruto severed the chakra chains and fell down to the ground, softening the landing with chakra, he was surprised to see red flags just a few dozen meters ahead. There were a few people standing there, wearing Leaf Village headbands. Iruka was one of them. Naruto strolled down to the flags, smirking softly.

As he passed the flags, Kurama said, ' _you really need to show off? I doubt you're actually first place anyways._ '

' _If I look cool and controlled in front of the teachers, it's all the better for me._ ' Naruto responded.

"Naruto Uzumaki, second place," A young woman with a clipboard said.

"You go behind us, Naruto. And good job!" Iruka said with a thumbs up.

Naruto nodded and walked past the various academy staff, eager to talk to the kid who had dared to defeat him.

Low and behold, it was the intangible kid from before. Naruto had assumed that had been a Genjutsu or something of the sort. The kid glared at Naruto.

"What's you're problem?" Naruto asked, sitting down. He wanted to first test the waters, see what the kid was like. He noticed the kid wasn't wearing the purple scarf.

The kid didn't respond, and instead started meditating.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "A quiet kid, huh? Social skills are important anywhere, and it would be best for you to learn that quickly."

The kid grumbled and glared at Naruto once more. "My name is Tsukasa. I come from a land far away, and that's all you need to know about me."

Naruto nodded. ' _He seems pretty edgy to me. What do you think?_ '

' _I agree. It might be possible for you to befriend him. Sasuke was pretty edgy as well._ ' Kurama responded.

' _Well, the Sasuke friendship thing is currently a failure; he thinks I'm a weirdo after all. That's not important anymore, though. I've lost interest in him. This Tsukasa seems stronger, so yes, I'll try to befriend him._ '

Naruto looked at Tsukasa, who was still glaring at him with his red eyes. "I'm interested in your intangibility justu. Is it a clan secret, perhaps?"

Tsukasa furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm not obliged to tell you."

Naruto smiled. "Very well then. Want to be friends? The two of us _are_ the top two in our grade."

Tsukasa huffed. "Your skills are way below mine." He then went back to meditating.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. ' _What do you think, should I still be friends with him?_ '

' _Ah, brat, you are still too immature. You let your emotions control you too much._ '

' _W-What emotions!_ ' Naruto blushed.

' _You have a large ego. You expect that just because you've trained with Orochimaru, just because you are supported by the great Kurama - don't make that expression, he'll think you're constipated - and just because you're from the Uzumaki clan, you can easily rise to the top of the ninja world._ '

' _Now isn't the time to debate the validity of my goals! First impressions are important, and I need your help in deciding what to do with him!_ '

' _You don't seem like the indecisive type. Why ask me for help?_ '

Naruto frowned. He had been trying to further his relationship with Kurama by displaying a way he depended upon the nine tails. It seemed such shallow tactics wouldn't work anymore. ' _Fine, I'll decide for myself._ '

Naruto was about to speak to Tsukasa when he noticed Sasuke and the Hyuga girl from earlier run past the red flags at the exact same time. Naruto raised an eyebrow. He would have to network with the girl as well, if she was that competent. But then again, the race wasn't a good measure of ninja ability. After all, Naruto hadn't finished first.

The two new finishers walked to where Naruto and Tsukasa were sitting without even looking at each other.

Naruto noticed the Hyuga girl look at Sasuke and blush, then hide her face in her arms. A devilish grin spread across his face.

Naruto had once read a romance novel at the insistence of a prisoner named Karin a few years earlier. From that, he had learned that love could severly affect the human mind, and being able to manipulate others using it could prove advantageous. Naruto had mentioned this to Orochimaru, who had said that was a great idea and patted Naruto on the head.

"Hey, Hyuga girl, what's your name?" Naruto asked.

The Hyuga girl looked at Naruto shyly. "U-um, my name is Hinata Hyuga..."

Naruto nodded. "I am Naruto Uzumaki. Yesterday, Sasuke Uchiha told me he had a secret crush on you."

* * *

A few minutes later, after a staff member of the academy had to restrain Sasuke from slitting Naruto's throat, and after Hinata had stopped running around and screaming, the fifth place student arrived. It was a kid with dark shades and a strangely large coat. He walked past the academy staff and sat down a distance away from Naruto and the others, all without saying a word.

"Honestly, do all strong people have to be anti-social?" Naruto complained.

"Could you shut up?" Tsukasa said harshly, his eyes his closed.

Naruto looked at Tsukasa. ' _Hey Kurama, I'm not really good at dealing well with kids my age. Got any pointers?_ '

' _Yeah, ask a thousand year old manifestation of hatred how to befriend adolescents._ '

' _You're not a manifestation of hatred in my eyes._ '

' _You make it sound like it's just an opinion of yours._ '

' _Fine, You are definitely not a manifestation of hatred. Oh, I've been meaning to ask, how were you born?_ ' Naruto asked. During his conversation with Kurama, a few more kids were trickling in.

' _You should probably socialize with the kids, not me._ ' Kurama huffed.

' _What, touchy subject?_ '

Kurama didn't respond.

Naruto shrugged and looked around for a friendly face. There were only eight people who had finished, including himself.

"Seventh place... I am ashamed of myself..." A girl nearby muttered

Naruto looked at her. She was wearing an elegant navy blue dress, the same color as her hair. "Hi," he said.

The girl didn't acknowledge him, so Naruto tried again. "Hello?" he said, a little louder.

The girl still didn't turn to see him, so Naruto shrugged and got up as another kid finished the race. He walked over to Sasuke, who was sitting alone, like a few other kids.

Sasuke regarded Naruto with a neutral expression. "What?"

"Are we still friends?" Naruto asked. He had envisioned befriending everyone easily, but he was left with at max one friend.

"Nope. You're weird, and you'll slow me down from my goals."

Naruto sighed. That made zero friends in the academy. "Even after I told you about your brother..."

Sasuke averted his gaze.

Naruto put his hands in his pocket and decided to go to Hinata. After all, she was strong, and she had a powerful emotion he could exploit.

' _Can I tell you something, brat? No, no need to ask. You must hear something from me._ ' Kurama said.

Naruto sighed and sat down, a few meters from where Hinata was staring at Sasuke. ' _What is it?_ '

' _I actually have some advice for you. On making friends. You're only thinking of others as tools you can use to better yourself. Not actual people._ '

' _You mean a change in mindset would be beneficial? I'd be better off not befriending anyone, in that case, if it means I have to change my beautiful mind._ '

Kurama sighed, a deep, long noise that bounced around Naruto's skull. ' _I was impressed by your aggressiveness and understanding of the world, but now you are acting like an immature brat._ '

Naruto frowned. "Everyone here is a stupid idiot," he spat.

' _Don't know why you said that aloud, brat._ '

Naruto facepalmed as every kid turned to stare at him... and even some of the academy staff. Including Iruka.

"Oh yeah! You look pretty dumb yourself!" A boy yelled. There was a small white dog next to him, who barked in agreement.

"I'm afraid I'm much smarter than you," Naruto said, entering a staring contest with the kid.

"Hey blondie, no one likes you," the pink haired girl said.

Naruto turned to look at her. "You're one to talk, screaming like a banshee during the race."

' _Careful, brat,_ ' Kurama warned. ' _You're picking a fight with everyone._ '

Naruto ignored Kurama. "You also have a big forehead."

The girl blushed furiously. "You... you're stupid!" She then stomped off.

"Well, here's a kid we should all avoid," A kid said, yawning. It was Shikamaru. "What a drag."

Naruto sighed and walked over to an area away from the rest of the kids, and sat down. ' _I'm sorry, Kurama._ '

' _Idiot._ '

Naruto nodded, feeling stupid. He hadn't failed in a long time, and it hurt to not have things go his way. It hurt.

Naruto sulked alone for another hour, when a gray haired man with a few warts on his face walked out of the staff group to face the fifteen children who had passed.

"Everyone else has failed or given up. You fifteen are the only ones who will pass."

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"WHAT! Only fifteen!" The dog-kid shouted.

"That is how it is, sadly. It seems our tripwire booby trap was too difficult to pass. Also, many tried breaking rules. That's why there are only fifteen who have passed. Now follow me, we will be heading to the academy right now. After all, there's no need for another test or anything."

Naruto stared in shock as everyone started running into the forest behind the old warty man. ' _Wait... so the test is over? That was boring._ '

' _Kid, you better learn something good at the academy. I hate having to be stuck inside a child all over again._ '

Naruto shook his head. ' _Whatever._ ' he then started tree-branch-hopping alongside the others.

* * *

AN: Here's a list of the 15 who passed the academy entrance test, in order of when they finished the test:

1st - Tsukasa Genji

2nd - Naruto Uzumaki

3rd (tied) - Hinata Hyuga

3rd (tied) - Sasuke Uchiha

5th - Shino Aburame

6th - Shikamaru Nara

7th - Sokudo Ranna

8th - Sakura Haruno

9th (tied) - Satsuki Otsaimu

9th (tied) - Katsuri Otsaimu

11th - Kiba Inuzuka

12th - Choji Akimichi

13th - Saraba Yuno

14th - Ino Yamanaka

15th - Ishoni Tomoda

-.-

I apologize for the lack of action in this chapter, but I felt some proper character development was needed for our main character, in addition to some brief introductions of a few of his classmates.

Again, I love knowing what all of you are thinking about the story, so please leave a review or PM me!


	8. Academy Arc: Icebreakers

AN: In Naruto's year, there are six OCs and nine canon characters. Sorry if you think there are too many OCs; I added them to make the academy more populated and interesting. I won't be adding more than a few OCs beyond the academy arc, since there won't be any need for that.

* * *

Naruto finally reached the academy after an hour of branch hopping. He hadn't talked to anyone during the time, instead observing the others around him.

The academy was a large building with various bright colors painted on it. It was surrounded by a large moat, beyond which was the expansive forest Naruto and others had been in. The academy staff members walked atop the water to enter the academy through the large golden front doors, except for the warty old man from earlier.

The old man turned to face Naruto and the other fourteen kids - now first year academy students. "My name is Jiraiya, and I'm the principal of the academy... somehow. Don't know why Danzo asked me to do this," he said, looking bored. "Since there are only fifteen of you, you'll each be receiving more attention, so I hope you enjoy it. Now, you all can walk on the water to enter the academy, the teachers there will let you in once you all reach. I have research to do back at the Leaf Village." Jiraiya then ran back into the forest.

For a few seconds, no one moved. Then the dog-boy burst into laughter. "Walk on water? That's a genin level exercise, or something! We haven't even started the academy!"

Naruto had learned how to walk on water. Deciding to go ahead and do so, he stepped onto the moat. The murk shifted slightly beneath his feet; in fact, the moat was so full of brown dirt that Naruto couldn't see past a centimeter of the surface.

"Where did you learn that?" Shikamaru asked Naruto.

Naruto turned to the other fourteen kids and smirked. "I am the strongest one here!" he proclaimed.

"This one is annoying, right Katsuri?" One kid said. He had short purple hair and round glasses, similar to the girl next to him who had long purple hair (although a slightly darker shade) and rectangular glasses.

"That's right, Satsuki," the girl, Katsuri, said.

' _Way to go, Naruto, making friends like a jock,_ ' Kurama said dryly.

Naruto scowled. "Well I'm gonna go on ahead, while the rest of you figure out how to perform this simple jutsu." Naruto turned back around and walked over to the academy's entrance, where a staff member stood at the open doors. The staff member wore the standard Leaf Village flak jacket and had curly black hair.

Once Naruto was a meter from the doors, the staff member said, "You may not pass."

"Why?"

"Jiraiya said ALL of you have to reach here for us to let you in."

Naruto was about to retort, but he remembered Jiraiya had said exactly that. "Well then... but... they don't know to walk on water!"

The staff member smiled slightly. "Not right now, they don't."

Naruto groaned. "I have to teach them?"

The staff member didn't respond. Naruto shrugged and walked back to the fourteen kids, who were talking among each other. Naruto was happy he could do something Tsukasa couldn't, but he was unhappy he would have to help everyone else.

' _This is an opportunity to befriend everyone else, brat. Don't be rude,_ ' Kurama said.

' _Look who's talking,_ ' Naruto said, but he kept the advice in mind.

Naruto stepped onto dry land. "Everyone! We all need to reach the doors to be let into the academy, so I'm going to teach you how to walk on water! But first, your names!" he yelled.

Most of the kids ignored him.

"H-Hinata Hyuga!" The Hyuga girl stated nervously. Naruto looked at her and smiled. He then looked around at the other kids, but they didn't seem ready to share their names.

"I will first teach four others. The five of us will then each teach two more kids. That will be enough, I hope," Naruto said, thinking of a plan.

Now even Hinata was pretending to not hear him.

Naruto pondered the situation. ' _What am I doing wrong?_ ' he asked Kurama.

' _I'm no expert at making friends. I don't have any friends, anyways._ '

Naruto nodded. ' _You have me as a friend. But I think I understand the problem. I'm acting too superior..._ ' Naruto looked around, more carefully, and noted the various children assembled in the area. He was looking for lone kids - not straight-up antisocials like Sasuke or sunglasses-boy, but kids who didn't have friends despite wanting them. Similar to him, in a way.

He found one such kid. A girl with bright green hair that reached halfway to the waist, and bright blue eyes that darted around like the fingers of a gamer. She was twiddling her thumbs and staring at the ground.

Naruto walked up to the girl. "Hey," he said, unsure of how to strike conversation with a shy kid.

The girl looked at him with wide eyes. "What do you want?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Wanna be friends?"

' _Slick. Very slick,_ ' Kurama deadpanned.

The girl grinned. "Friends?! But why me?"

Naruto shrugged. "You're pretty cool. And...I don't have any friends here. I'm not exactly from the Leaf Village."

The girl's eyes brightened. "Yes yes! Me too! I'm from the Mist Village."

Naruto nodded. He was curious as to why the girl wasn't training in that village, but he didn't want to press her with questions.

"Everyone!" A loud voice rang out. It was Jiraiya's. He jumped out from the forest and landed in front of the fifteen kids, who all payed attention to him. He had a few purple bruises and a black eye. "Why haven't you entered the Leaf Village?"

"Little Naruto here thinks he's so cool," Ino said in a mocking tone. "It's funny seeing him suffer without any friends."

Jiraiya's face hardened. "There's no way all of you stayed here just for that!"

"I could have created a bridge made of my friends," sunglasses-kid said. He was sitting atop of branch of a tree on the forest's edge. "I didn't see the urgency, however. It was interesting to observe the other kids in the class."

Jiraiya nodded. "We have an interesting class this year... as usual. Now, before you enter, the lot of you will have to battle each other. There are some lessons some kids need to learn before setting foot upon the academy building."

"A battle! I don't actually know how to control my chakra yet, though," Kiba said.

Jiraiya laughed. "The battle has special rules. It's a four on one, and chakra attacks of any kind are prohibited. So are weapons."

"A fist fight?" Sakura asked, aghast.

"Kind of, yes. I'll explain the rules better once we reach the battle area. Follow me," Jiraiya said, running around the academy's moat and into the forest beyond there. The kids all followed suit, confused - this was something never done before in the academy's history.

* * *

The field was a large, circular clearing, surrounded by tall deciduous trees and filled with a woody scent that somehow felt nostalgic. The ground was full of lush green grass.

"Our battles will be four on one, as I said earlier. Our first match will be the last four the finish the race versus the third place. The second match will be the eight to eleventh place kids versus the second place. The final match will be the first place kid versus the fourth to seventh place kids," Jiraiya said.

No one spoke for a few seconds. The children were either shocked into silence... or just didn't feel the need to talk.

Naruto broke the silence. "Um, the third place thing is tied..."

"Between who?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto told Jiraiya, who observed Hinata and Sasuke for a few seconds. "We will consider the girl the third place. She needs the lesson more, I believe."

'What lesson?" Kiba asked.

"You will find out soon enough. And for incentive to try hard, if you win then you get to know a suuuuuper coool jutsu, taught by me!" Jiraiya exclaimed, striking a weird pose.

"How does one win?" the pink haired girl asked.

Jiraiya smiled. "When everyone in the team has given up, or if I decide that a team has won. Does everyone understand the rules now?"

Most kids nodded, the rest looking like they didn't feel the need to bother nodding.

"Good. Everyone in the first battle, get ready. The rest of us, watch from the trees surrounding this clearing," Jiraiya said. Everyone followed his instructions. "Wish I could do research instead of this..." Jiraiya muttered.

The five battling kids were ready a minute later. Jiraiya announced their names: Hinata Hyuga versus Ishoni Tomoda (the green haired shy girl), Ino Yamanaka, Saraba Yuno, and Choji Akimichi.

Hinata looked nervous beyond belief, while her four competitors looked confident. To Naruto, it seemed like an easy win for the team of four. Hinata wouldn't be able to defeat them alone.

"Naruto," Sasuke said. Naruto turned to the right to see Sasuke standing near him. "I hope you lose. Too bad I won't be able to fight you."

Naruto sighed. He had thought Sasuke might've still wanted to be friends. It seemed they were midway between rivals and enemies. "You better not lose. Especially since you'll have three teammates with you to defeat that snob Tsukasa," Naruto said. Sasuke nodded, then turned to battle that was about to start.

"Everyone is ready, it seems," Jiraiya said. "Begin!"

The match had started. It didn't last long, however. Choji seemed to be a major physical power house, and used that to his advantage by quickly jumping on Hinata and landing a blow. It seemed soft compared to what his body seemed capable of, but chances were he didn't like having to use full power on a friend. "Sorry!" he shouted.

"I-I give up!" Hinata said. Choji got off of her and stood to the side, while his three teammates looked at him with annoyance. After all, they hadn't had the chance to actually do anything.

"That's the match! Hinata loses!" Jiraiya yelled. "Ended faster than I would've liked, but oh well. It serves the purpose well."

"What purpose, may I ask?" Tsukasa said, the first time he had spoken since Jiraiya had appeared before the children. He was wearing his purple scarf.

"You'll see later," Jiraiya responded. "Clear out! The kids for the second battle may get ready!"

Hinata looked a little sad, but nothing more. The five kids of the first battle walked to the edge of the forest.

Naruto smirked and walked into the middle of the clearing. He surveyed the other four who were stepping forward as well, then frowned, annoyed at the selection.

"Naruto Uzumaki versus Sakura Haruno, Satsuki and Katsuri Otsaimu, and Kiba Inuzuka," Jiraiya announced. "For this battle, however, we have a special rule. Naruto, you must keep your eyes closed during the entire match. I'm aware you don't have any enhanced senses, so that should be a fitting disability."

* * *

AN: Meaningful fights coming right up... after the next chapter, whose focus is on a character in the Sand Village.


	9. Academy Arc: Around the Leaf

AN: It's been a long time since I last added a chapter. Around half a year... sorry! I've been busy with a lot of stuff recently, and I don't expect that to change. However, I will still try to make new chapters every once in a while.

Also, unlike what I said in the last chapter, this one won't be about a character in the sand village; this chapter will describe various happenings around the Leaf Village.

* * *

Naruto looked at Sakura, Satsuki, Katsuri, and Kiba, and they eyed him on the battlefield.

Not too long after, Jiraiya said, "Begin!"

Naruto quickly took action by creating a Rasengan in his right hand. Kiba was surprised, but his three partners were unfazed as they ran forward, weaving hand seals. Naruto increased the size of the Rasengan until it was as large as his head, after which he shoved it at the ground directly in front of him. Dirt sprayed from the ground, blocking Naruto from view.

He quickly weaving several hand seals and breathed out an intense gale of wind. Satsuki and Katsuri, the closest opponents, flew in the air and landed with a thud on the tree trunks surrounding the battlefield. Naruto smirked as Jiraiya announced that they were out of the battle. He focused on Sakura, who was glaring at him, and Kiba, who was running at him with bared teeth.

Naruto focused on the more immediate threat; Kiba. He breathed out another gale of wind, blasting Kiba backward, but Kiba managed to stay in the battlefield. Naruto kept an eye on Sakura as she ran at him, yelling the whole way. She threw a wide punch, which Naruto easily dodged.

' _That was easy_ ,' Naruto commented.

' _That may be so, but there's something missing. Didn't that boy have a dog?_ ' Kurama pointed out.

Naruto stilled as he realized Kurama was right. He swiftly turned around to see a small white dog leaping at his face. Naruto jumped back in surprise, quickly creating a shadow clone in front of him. The dog tore through the shadow clone, stalling it enough for the real Naruto to escape. Sakura had readied another punch for him, however, which Naruto narrowly dodged, cursing. However, he fell right into Kiba, who held a kunai at his neck.

"Naruto loses!" Jiraiya announced from within the surrounding trees.

Naruto was aghast. "But... they just used simple taijutsu! There's no way I just lost!"

Jiraiya had a hearty laugh. "Try to understand what lesson I was trying to teach you. Everyone, let's go back to the academy."

"What happened to our fight! I wanna beat that Tsukasa kid!" Sokudo Ranna exclaimed. He had dusty brown hair and a slight tan.

Jiraiya sighed. "Tsukasa doesn't actually have any lessons to learn. At least, from a battle like the ones we just did. Now follow me."

Jiraiya quickly jumped through the tree branches, prompting the young academy students to hastily follow behind. Naruto stayed in the back, pondering what had just happened.

' _I just got dissed by the principal in front of everyone, didn't I_ ' Naruto thought to Kurama.

Kurama didn't respond.

* * *

 **Meanwhile** **...**

Hiruzen Sarutobi was outraged. Naruto, who he had vowed to protect, went missing for years on end, then decided to come back and completely ignore him. He decided that even if Naruto didn't want to see him, he would ensure Naruto was safe. He jumped across the rooftops in the Leaf Village until he reached the Hokage's building. He made his way into the men's bathroom on the first floor. As usual, it was pristine; after all, foreign dignitaries visited the building often. It was important to show that the Leaf was a village of vast wealth.

Hiruzen glanced around the bathroom. There was someone humming in the very stall that led to his secret base. The former Hokage walked over to face the stall's closed door.

The man in the stall starting emitting fart noises to a rhythmic beat. This sound combined with the _p_ _sssssss_ sound of what Hiruzen presumed to be pissing. The two different sounds melded into a single harmony.

Suddenly, the farting noises stopped. "It is I, the protector of integrity and peace," Hiruzen said.

The man in the stall opened the stall's door. Hiruzen looked over the guard of his secret base. He wore an Anbu mask fashioned to represent a dragon. His name was Dragon.

Dragon bowed to Hiruzen before leaving the bathroom with a swift teleportation jutsu. Hiruzen walked into the stall and pressed the level that would flush a normal toilet. He wasn't dealing with a normal toilet, however.

The tile Hiruzen was standing on slowly lowered beneath the ground, leading him to a subterranean encampment. It was Hiruzen's secret base, where he worked with the few Anbu members still loyal to him.

The base's walls were an earthen brown, made from Earth Release jutsu. It was covered with sealing tags that hid its presence from even the strongest sensory ninja. Within the base were many white-coated scientists milling around various equipment, conducting research of various kinds.

"Ah! My lord!" One of the scientists said when she noticed Hiruzen. Her brown hair was tied in a bun, and her spectacles gleamed under the artificial light that had been created by a special Jutsu. "What brings you here?"

Hiruzen smiled. "Since Naruto is back, could you assign Karada to be his bodyguard? I need to make sure he stays safe."

The scientist nodded. "At once," she said before scurrying off.

Hiruzen sighed, once again feeling the pang of regret for not being able to take care of Naruto properly.

* * *

 **Meanwhile...**

The Sound Four finally reached the barrier that surrounded the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was a marvelous sight to behold.

"Finally! I'm so tired," Jugo complained, stretching.

Tayuya rolled her eyes. "Fatso, you really need to get in shape."

"Shut up you two," Sakon barked. "Now listen. We first need to locate Naruto. Then we have to lure him out of the village. We can't deal with an entire village ourselves. Got it?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good," Sakon said. "Orochimaru told us Naruto would be enrolling in the Academy. Let's go there first."

* * *

AN: Please let me know what you think of this story, in terms of prose, characters, plot, worldbuilding, or anything else. Reviews are the main factor in motivating me to continue writing! I know I have a lot to improve on, so reviews will help me give you guys a better story!

Also, just to clarify, the bathrooms in the Naruto world (at least the good ones) are comparable to the public bathrooms we have in the real world. Sewage systems are of a comparable level of technology.

Finally, just wanted to say that this chapter is short because I wanted to get a chapter out as soon as possible so people won't think I'm dead. Again, sorry for the long break. I hope I don't do anything like this again.


	10. Academy Arc: Welcome to the Academy!

One of the two Shinobi guarding the entrance of the Academy created an Earth Release bridge to let the academy students walk into the enormous building. Jiraiya said they would be teaching the students how to walk on water at a later time. For now, the academy students would be shown to their rooms.

As Naruto entered the academy, he gasped in awe as he looked around the massive central hall of the academy. It was cuboidal in shape. Each dimension was around a hundred meters above the floor. The ceiling had an ornate depiction of the Leaf Village's symbol carved into it and was supported by imposing ivory pillars. Entrancing drawings of various hand seals were carved into each pillar.

His eyes wandering back down to the ground, Naruto noticed in shock that the ground beneath them was made of glass. Beneath was the ecosystem of the water body the building rested upon. Naruto shivered instinctively when he noticed fish of all kinds swimming furiously away from something he couldn't see. Whatever they were swimming away from, he didn't want to have to encounter any time soon.

"Welcome to the central hall of the Leaf's Academy!" Jiraiya announced, turning around to face the 15 wide-eyed students. "There's no furniture in this hall, but that's for a reason. This is where you'll be taking the graduation test." Many of the kids nodded in understanding, but Naruto was unaware of the test. He would have to find out about it later.

Jiraiya continued. "There are four doors leading out of this hall, as you can see," he said, pointing to the ten-meter tall doors that were decorated with azure and lavender coloration. "You came into here from the main entrance of the Academy. The door on the opposite wall leads to the classrooms. The door to your left leads to the indoor training grounds in addition to some of the special facilities we have. The door to your right leads to the student dorms. That's where we'll be heading. Follow me."

Jiraiya walked at a meaningful pace to the door that led to the dorms, the new students following behind.

' _Quite the impressive building here._ ' Kurama commented.

Naruto was surprised to hear Kurama speak without being prompted to. Being sure to respond quickly, Naruto thought to Kurama, ' _Danzo made the right decision by funding the academy. Growing the next generation of ninjas will no doubt be beneficial for this village's future._ '

Kurama grunted in affirmative.

Jiraiya opened the large door with ease, revealing a long corridor that lay beyond. There were three doors on the left wall of the corridor. "The farthest door is where you first-years will be staying," Jiraiya said, opening the door he spoke of and motioning for the kids to go through.

As Naruto walked through, he noticed there were another five doors, all side-by-side. They were labeled with the names of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. "We've already changed the capacity to hold only fifteen students. You'll be grouped into units of three, each unit taking up residence in one of these five rooms. You guys decide who goes where."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Wait, how come boys and girls aren't split? Isn't that how it usually is?" Naruto remembered how all of Orochimaru's prisons separated their prisoners by gender. He never knew why, though. It just became normal to him.

Jiraiya gave a hearty laugh. "Ah, you kids are too young for any of that to be necessary. Anyways, I'll send someone to check on you guys in around an hour. Until then, get settled." With that, Jiraiya disappeared into smoke.

Naruto shrugged at Jiraiya's response, then turned his attention to the other students. Sasuke was the first to choose a room; gamma. He wordlessly entered the Gamma Residence. Quick to react, Naruto entered the Alpha Residence. After all, he considered himself an Alpha of his cohort. He looked around the pristine suite, composed of spacious rooms to perform all sorts of daily activities. He smiled and settled in.

* * *

Saraba Yuno, the girl with bright green hair, fiddled her thumbs as she saw Naruto enter the Alpha Residence. She distinctly remembered Naruto offering to be her friend, and she distinctively remembered refusing him. She debated in her mind whether it was the right choice or not. One on hand, no one had ever wanted to be her friend before, despite her desire to have one. On the other hand, no one else seemed to like him.

"Whoever else has to go into the Alpha Residence is gonna be screwed. Well, I don't want to be one of those two people. I'll go to the room that's the furthest away from that Naruto scoundrel," Kiba snarled, entering the Epsilon Residence.

Sokudo nodded. "I'll do the same," he announced to no one in particular, beginning to walk towards the Epsilon door. However, Shino's bugs flew off of his body and towards Sokudo, giving Shino time to enter the Epsilon Residence. Before Sokudo could regain his bearings, the students were quickly taking up whatever spots were left, in an attempt to get one as far away from the Alpha Residence as possible.

It wasn't long before only a few remaining at the end of the frenzy; Saraba, Hinata, and Tsukasa. Surprisingly, one of the remaining spots was in the Delta Residence. Its possible people were avoiding that one as well as the Alpha Residence, considering how the two occupants were the Otsaimu twins. They were known throughout the village for their constant vandalism of Hidden Leaf property.

That left one spot to be with vandals, and two spots to be with a complete weirdo. Saraba couldn't decide, so she looked at the other two to see where they were going to go. Hinata was glancing at the Gamma Residence with longing. Saraba wondered why, shrugging. She then looked at Tsukasa, who was leaning against one of the white-colored walls, his eyes closed. Huh.

Saraba waited a minute... then two... but neither Hinata nor Tsukasa moved. Deciding to just go to the Alpha Residence, since there was going to only be one bad person in it, Saraba took a step forward. Then she realized something. An idea to make a friend. An actual friend!

Saraba looked at Hinata. She took a few moments to gather the courage to speak. "uh... Hinata? Do you want to go to the Gamma Residence?" Saraba asked.

Hinata looked at Saraba, a furious blush evident on her face. Hinata waved her arms frantically in front of her, shaking her head. "Wha! No... I..."

Saraba raised an eyebrow. Hinata's blush deepened. "Well... yes... I guess..." Hinata muttered.

Saraba nodded. She internally grinned to herself for having thought of such a great plan. She walked into the Gamma Residence.

It was a marvel to look at; the interior was just like a five-star suite, complete with anything someone could need - and more. There was even a pool in the central room. Saraba marched over to the first person she saw. Sakura Haruno.

"H-Hey Sakura, there's an open spot in the Delta Residence. Want to move there? It's further away from Naruto!" Saraba said, fake enthusiasm coloring her voice.

Sakura's eyes lit up momentarily, but then they went back to normal. "Actually... I'd rather stay," Sakura said.

Saraba sighed. Her plan had failed.

"I'll go there!" A voice shouted from behind her. Saraba turned around to see Sokudo packing his things. Saraba smiled. "Thank you so much!" She exclaimed.

Sokudo gave her a toothy grin and a thumbs-up before scurrying out of the room. Saraba followed behind, locating Hinata, who looked at her with a confused expression.

"There's an open spot now! Sokudo moved out!" Saraba told Hinata.

Hinata gasped. "Wha... oh thank you!" She exclaimed. It took a few moments for Hinata to enter the Gamma Residence.

Saraba smiled as she watched Hinata disappear behind a door. Even if she would have to live with a weirdo, at least she now had a friend. That was something the Mist Village never gave her. Maybe the Leaf truly was much better.

* * *

Naruto finished packing up his things and sat expectantly atop the glass breakfast table to see who would come in through the exit and become his new roommates.

' _Even I know sitting on tables is weird. Shouldn't you give up that habit?_ ' Kurama grumbled.

Naruto chuckled. ' _I am who I am. Sitting on tables just seems... right. Chairs are so small, tables have so much more room. Y'know?_ '

' _Yeah, of course I know. Since you have tables and chairs inside you for me to enjoy._ '

Naruto sighed as the clock ticked by. Growing bored, he started playing with a Rasengan, bouncing it from one hand to the next. Although it would look easy to an outsider, maintaining it required considerable chakra control.

Finally, after an excruciatingly long wait, two people walked into the Alpha Residence together. Naruto snapped to attention, raising an eyebrow as he saw Tsukasa and Saraba.

"I certainly wasn't expecting you two," Naruto said, eyeing his new roommates. Saraba blushed under his gaze.

Tsukasa closed the door behind them and leaning against it, closing his eyes. It was identical to his posture from before. Saraba shrugged and went inside of the bedrooms to place her things there. Tsukasa then went to the last remaining bedroom and settled down there.

For the next few minutes, the three didn't speak to each other. They simply sat in their respective bedrooms of the Alpha Residence. Naruto broke the silence by saying, "Hey guys! I found a cool board game in my room! Want to play?"

Saraba walked out of her room and nodded. Naruto smirked and set down 'The Game of Ninja Life' on the central table of the suite. "Hey Tsukasa! You coming?" Naruto yelled.

No response.

"It's fine, maybe he's tired..." Saraba said.

Naruto shrugged. He was about to open the cover of the board game when their front door opened. Standing there was Iruka Umino, an instructor of the Academy. "Hey kids! Come with me, I'm gonna give you a tour around campus!"

* * *

AN: A chapter heavy on description, I hope that doesn't detract from the reading experience. Let me know if there's anything I can improve on in terms of setting description. If it's too bad I'll rewrite the chapter ;)

Also, a word on Isobu, the three-tails. If you look at the Naruto Wikia, you'll see that the canon doesn't say what happens to him after the Third Shinobi World War. I'll be filling in what happened to Isobu myself.

* * *

At the bottom of each chapter in the rest of the Academy Arc, I'll include a list of each character in the academy that has been revealed, just to make sure things don't get too confusing.

 **First-years**

Alpha

Naruto Uzumaki

Saraba Yuno

Tsukasa Genji

Beta

Choji Akimichi

Ino Yamanaka

Shikamaru Nara

Gamma

Sasuke Uchiha

Sakura Haruno

Hinata Hyuga

Delta

Satsuki Otsaimu

Katsuri Otsaimu

Sokudo Ranna

Epsilon

Kiba Inuzuka

Shino Aburame

Ishoni Tomoda

 **Administrative Staff**

Jiraiya (Principal)

 **Instructors**

Iruka Umino (Chakra Theory)


End file.
